Vented cook top



Oct. 18, 1966 o. E. HARTSON 3,279,456

VENTED coox TOP Filed Sept. 2, 1964 Z w m! INVENTOR OLIVER E. HARTS'ON ATTORNEY-5 United States Patent 3,279,456 VENTED COOK TOP Oliver E. Hartson, Mansfield, Ohio, assignor to The Tappan Company, Mansfield, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Sept. 2, 1964, Ser. No. 393,857 1 Claim. (Cl. 126-211) This invention relates to a gas cooking top or surface burner assembly and, more particularly, to such an ap pliance in which a constant burning gas pilot is utilized for ignition of the burners.

The basic structural organization of such a cook top, whether employed as a separate unit installed in a counter and the like or in a range of any kind, comprises usually a burner box, a plurality of burners mounted therein and equipped with associated controls, the indicated constant burning pilot or pilots for ignition, and a cover or top plate for the box having openings over the burners. The cover will carry, in each of these open ings, one form or another of a sub-assembly of a drip pan, trim ring, and grate, all as well known and very common in the trade. The pilot is ordinarily obscured by an imperforate portion of the cover and, for reasons which are not fully understood, covers of current supply are proving to be highly susceptible to rusting and deterioration at the undersurface portions above the pilots. The combustion products of the pilot are not as a general rule vented in commercial appliances of this type, and the deterioration is undoubtedly produced by the exposure of the cover metal to water vapor and other gases emanating from the pilot in such construction. In any event, the evidence of rusting has become quite widespread and of such extent as to cause marring of the outer appearance of the cover and, of course, user complaints.

It has been found that this deterioration can be avoided by venting of the pilots, and it is accordingly a primary object of the invention to provide a cook top in which such venting is incorporated.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a gas cooking top cover plate for use in an assembly including a constant burning pilot in which the cover plate itself carries a vent for the pilot or pilots of a unique configuration and serving efficiently to dispel the combustion products of the pilot burner safely to an atmospheric exhaust. Since many cook tops are provided with covers which are either totally removable or hinged for exposure of the interior of the box, to facilitate cleaning and maintenance for example, it is preferred that this pilot vent device be movable with the cover in order not to interfere with or complicate such access.

Another object of the invention is to provide a specially formed cover vent for a constant burning gas pilot which is simple and not unattractive in appearance, while serving efficiently and directed to satisfy the desired atmospheric discharge.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim, the following description and the annexed drawing setting forth in detail a certain illustrative embodiment of the invention, this being indicative, however, of but one of the various ways in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a gas cooking top provided with pilot vent devices according to the present invention, a portion of the cover assembly being obviously broken away to show more clearly certain internal features of the construction;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken approximately on the line 2-2 in FIG. 1; and I FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view, the plane of which is indicated by the line 33 in FIG. 2.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the illustrative embodiment shown comprises a gas cook top including a burner box 10 and, mounted therein, four gas burners 11, 12, 13 and 14 arranged more or less in two pairs. At the front of the appliance, there are an equal number of control knobs 15, 16, 1'7 and 18 respectively serving as the actuators of valves for regulating the flow of the gaseous fuel individually to the several burners. These valves are operative in a front gas supply manifold 19 at the several places of connection of the tubes for the burners to the same, with all of this construction :being conventional in respect of both components and the illustrated organization of parts. Accordingly, no further detailed description of the same is needed for full understanding of the present improvements.

The latter are, as earlier indicated, concerned principally with the cover and the pilot arrangement. In the embodiment of the drawing, the cover constitutes a plate 20 having four openings 21 at which the burners are exposed. In each such opening there it a drip pan 22 and an overlying grate 23, as shown associated with burners 13 and 14, these again being of usual form and not critical to the invention.

As earlier noted, the four burners 11-14 are paired and the spacing is such that this pairing places the rear burners 12 and 14 respectively fairly close behind the forward burners 11 and 13. Moreover, there is in this embodiment at least, a greater separation across the width of the unit as viewed from the front between the thus paired burners, thereby providing some clear central space for a convenience or working area of the top. It will be also seen that the fairly close disposition of the front and rear .burners of each pair results in relatively narrow bridging portions of the cover or top plate 20 between the two burners of each pair, this area between the burners 11 and 12 being described by reference numeral 24 and the comparable section between the burners 13 and 14 by reference numeral 25.

It is beneath these relatively narrow portions of the cover that the constant burning pilots 26 and 27 are disposed within the burner box. The pilot 26, which re ceives its gaseous fuel through the small line 28, is thus mounted between the burners 11 and 12 and flash tubes 29 and 30 extend horizontally from this common pilot respectively to the two such burners. In exactly the same manner, the second pilot 27 is supplied with gas through the line 31 and cooperates with flash tubes 32 and 33 for ignition of the burners 13 and 14.

According to the present invention, the cover 20 is furnished with a specially formed vent in each of its noted portions 24 and 25 directly over, in spaced relation, the pilots 26 and 27. This new vent device is designated generally by reference numeral V at each occurrence, the two being identical and description of one being sufficient for understanding. Each such vent is generally in the form of a tower having a lowermost section 34 which is approximately of inverted hemispherical shape, with the lower edge at a diameter considerably greater than that of the pilot burner, whereby this edge is appreciably outwardly spaced relative to the pilot with the two on aligned axes. The tower vent form, in proceeding upwardly from this lower portion 34, undergoes a smoothly worked transition to an upper portion having a rectangular horizontal cross-sectional shape. This upper portion 35 is provided with a series of generally rectangular ports or openings 36 in horizontal rows along the long upper side walls, and each vent tower will be seen to project at this upper portion above the top surface of the cover 20. The vents V will be fastened in the. cover openings accommodating such passage thereof in any appropriate manner, so that they will lift and be transported with the cover itself.

The exposed top sections 35 of the vent towers will be seen to be relatively unobstructive and not unsightly. The orientation of each such protruding top portion is such that it will extend perpendicularly to a line conneeting the two vertical axes of the burners of the pair served by the particular pilot for which the vent is provided. The bell-like lower and hidden configuration of this vent device, of larger dimensioning and horizontal cross-section at the lower edge than the top portion, insures the collection of all of the products of combustion produced by the particular constant burning pilot, whereas the upper and exposed portion has a less obvious appearance, without impairment of the draft through the tower which carries the gases to external discharge above the cover. It will also be seen that any liquids which might unintentionally enter such a tower vent at the top of the assembly will run down the side wall of the lower edge, which is well away from the pilot itself and thus the latter is protected against inadvertent extinguishment because of such an occurrence. The exterior of the tower which is normally observable will preferably be provided with a finished surface, and it has been found by testing that this vent device provides a complete solution to the localized cover rusting and corrosion problem first discussed above.

Other modes of applying the principle of the inven tion may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in the following claim or the equivalent of such be employed.

1, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

In a cook top having a main gas burner and a cover in the form of a substantially fiat plate in which there is an opening for top exposure of said main burner, a constant burning gas pilot burner assembly disposed beneath the cover spaced from the main burner but operative to provide ignition thereof, and a separately formed vent tower carried by the cover in penetrating relation with inner and outer portions respectively below and above the cover, the inner portion being relatively enlarged with respect both to the outer portion and the pilot burner and depending freely with the open bottom thereof being located over the pilot burner, the outer portion of relatively reduced size projecting appreciably above the top plane of the cover plate and having a closed top and a series of exposed side wall ports, said tower being of one-piece construction and serving to conduct the combustion products of the pilot burner upwardly through the same and hence the cover for discharge to the atmosphere.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,087,720 7/1937 Guenther et al 126-214 X 2,632,438 3/1953 Chambers 126-2l4 2,649,850 8/1953 Schlenk et al. 126-39 2,654,359 10/1953 Reeves l26--214 X FREDERICK L. MATTESON, JR., Primary Examiner.

E. G. FAVORS, Assistant Examiner. 

